“You’re a dickhead,” Seth growls back. Ah brotherly love. I chuckle as Seth walks over to the humans, stepping over bottles and broken chairs. The place is a right mess. One of the humans is still holding his beer as he stands up, looking pretty freaked out, but I’m impressed. It takes some dedication to hold onto your beer through all that. I run and jump over the bar, landing on the other side with a thud. I remember seeing Karma disappear through a door back here, and I climb over a table, finding a door just behind it. I lean down, grabbing the ends of the table, and lift it up high in the air. The moment I do, the door opens and a grey-haired dude walks in, his jaw dropping open.
“Lad, did you fucking do this?” he asks with a thick Scottish accent. “Or was it that redhead? She seemed like trouble.”
“It’s always a redhead, mate,” I answer, pushing the table down so it rests against the bar. “Where did she go?”
“Through the portal. If you want to follow, my master and I have a price,” he responds, crossing his arms and eyeing me up. An illegal portal makes sense. I wondered why Karma would choose to sit in a bar when she was meant to be on the run. We wouldn’t have found her if it weren’t for a worried bus driver calling his wife and telling her about the young woman with red hair who he was concerned for. Seth was using his powers to search through every phone call in Dublin to find a clue, and that was pure luck. I don’t get to respond as Seth jumps over the bar. His jacket is gone, and he has taken his tie off. To anyone else, that would mean nothing, but to Seth, that means war. Karma is in trouble now. This just got personal to him.
“The price we will pay is not shutting you down for owning an illegal portal. If you don’t let us pass, I will make sure you and your master follow the redhead into the gods’ correctional prison where she is going,” he threatens, sounding more than annoyed that there is another hold up and Karma will be getting away. Though, illegal portals are usually unpredictable and make you ill. She wouldn’t have gotten far.
“And who the hell are you guys to do that? No one would believe you that a portal is in a human pub,” the man responds, and I grin.
“We are the justice twins, keepers of the magical world, and there is no one in this world who wouldn’t believe us,” I slowly reply, and the Scottish guy’s skin visibly pales as I speak.
“So, move,” Seth says, sounding uninterested in dealing with this dude any longer. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone move as quickly out of the way, plastering himself to the wall, as this Scottish dude does.
“Brother, did I ever tell you that joke about a Scottish guy and a British guy walking into an Irish pub?” I ask him as we head down the long corridor, and Seth opens the door at the end, looking back at me like I’m an idiot. It’s a usual look from him, in all fairness. Seth doesn’t do jokes.
“No, and I don’t want to hear it. Let’s just get this job over and done with,” Seth responds, walking into the empty room where there is a swirling portal on the one wall.
“You are always ruining my fun, dude,” I respond before running and jumping head first into the portal.
Chapter Eleven
Landing with a scream, I roll onto my backpack, holding my stomach as it swirls in pain, and sickness builds in the back of my throat. I have to lie still for a little bit until the pain stops, and the blurry night sky comes into focus. I slowly sit up, seeing the empty rooftop I'm lying on, and the cold air is a welcome relief as it blows against me. I pull myself up, shaking a little as I try to keep my footing. Looking back at the portal which is well hidden under a tarp, I know I need to get moving. There is no doubt in my mind the bartender will let the twins follow me through.
I spot the fire exit on the other side of the building and quickly run to it, pulling myself over the other side just as the portal flickers, and suddenly two people are thrown out of it onto the roof. The feckin’ twins are good, I’ll give them that. I run down the steps of the fire exit, hearing nothing but the busy city noises of London at night and my own heartbeat pounding hard in my chest. The area smells like fast food, which only makes me hungry as I run and finally get to the last steps. I jump into the alley, running down towards the end when suddenly someone jumps in front of me from right out of the air, gold dust littering the ground by his feet.
"Didn't know you could fly," I mutter, feeling frustrated as the casual justice twin steps into the dim street light, his arms crossed and a big grin on his pretty lips. This close, he is far more attractive than I thought. His carefree nature, the playful smirk, and pretty gold eyes are something else. I’m certain he has no trouble getting girls.
"Why don't we just introduce ourselves and have little a chat? We aren't the bad guys here, Karma. My name is Killian," he says, offering me a hand to shake, but I’m not that stupid. I’m not shaking his hand, and I know his brother will be coming up right behind me at any point. Killian smirks, crossing his arms as he figures out I won’t be touching him.
"There is no point in running; we will always find you," Killian's brother says, and I try to remember what his name was. He was so boring on our date, until everything went wrong and I saw another side to him. I do remember how seductively handsome he is, far more than anyone I had ever seen before. I never liked the colour gold before, until I saw his eyes. I never forgot his eyes.
"Way to get her to trust us, Seth," Killian mutters, and lowers his crossed arms as he takes another step closer. I should have gotten those daggers out my bag, then I'd at least stand a chance of stabbing one of them and running for it. I’ve messed up big time, and we all know it.
"That's fucking creepy. Is that how you find all your women? ’Cause it's not working on me, goldipops," I sarcastically say, and Seth stays deadly quiet while Killian deeply laughs. Man, is that a laugh that could drop panties.
"Goldipops, I like that. Though, usually women just run to us, not away, angel," Killian says, coming up with his own nickname. But he really has the wrong idea if he thinks I'm an angel. "Now hand me your bag and that charming necklace of yours, then we can get going."
"That really isn't happening," I reply, crossing my arms and desperately looking around for some way to escape this alleyway. I reach for my necklace, but in the blink of an eye, Killian is in front of me, and I feel Seth at my back as Killian grabs both my wrists. Usually I like a little bondage, but this isn’t the fun kind. Gold, shiny bracelets lock around my wrists as Killian sadly smiles at me. Why does it feel like he doesn’t want this to be over so easily?
"I don't want to do this, but you have been found guilty of conspiring and murdering a higher god. There is only one punishment for such a crime," Seth coldly informs me. I get the murdering part. Kinda. I mean I didn’t actually set out to kill him at all, so can it really be called murder if it was an accident? I didn’t mean any of this. I quite liked my life as it was, so there is no way I’d do this on purpose.
"Wait, conspiring? Are you feckin’ kidding me? It was an accident, you big eegits! I didn't conspire anything!" I shout, trying to wriggle free of Killian's tight grip as Seth comes to our side. Without responding to me, he gently pulls my necklace off before giving it to Killian for safe keeping no doubt. I'm going to get that back, one way or another.
"Proof of your crimes has been shown to the gods, do not try to talk your way out of this," Seth warns me.
"I'm being set up! I swear the god’s name, Neritous Cyncus, appeared on my hand as a bad karma job. That's why I was anywhere near him, and everything went really wrong. I swear it was accident," I say, but I can tell they are completely ignoring me as they look at each other, clearly calculating something. Killian eventually nods in some sort of agreement that I can’t understand as I try to pull my arm out of his tight grip.
"Karma Maria Kismet, you have been caught by the gods of justice. Your punishment is a lifetime in the gods’ correctional prison with no release and no visits until your natural death. This is the law …and will of the higher gods," Seth officially says.
Killian seems hesitant to continue his sentencing, making the whole situation feel pretty awkward, but he finally says, "As the gods of justice, we find you guilty. No further investigation will be taken. Do you accept your fate?" Fuck no, I feckin’ don’t.
“No,” I bite out, and he shrugs his shoulders, sighing.
"I’m not surprised, they always say no. I don't think there have been more than three people that have accepted their punishment in our career," Seth says and nods his head at my bag as Killian lets go of my arm, clearly trusting the golden bracelets to make sure I don’t run off. I’m sure they are trackers of some kind, as well as a way to block my powers. I can’t feel their fears or wants at all like I should be able to if I wanted. I don’t like being without my powers that I’ve had since before I can remember. I feel naked around the twins, and not in the fun, kinky way I’d prefer.
"Take the bag off."
"Make me," I sweetly reply, raising an eyebrow at him. I'm not going to make this easy. No way in hell. "Or let me go. I don't mind which one. Though the latter would be the best idea."
"Leave her with the bag, just open it up and check it," Killian suggests. He clicks his fingers, and my wrists slam together, locking in place so I have no choice but to link my fingers to make myself comfortable. I go to warn Seth about Kit, but instead I just smile as he pulls open my bag, and I feel him getting the daggers out.
“Those are some nice daggers,” Killian says, his eyes finally leaving me only to check out my brother’s daggers. I’m not telling them they are magical, because they would never give them back.
“That I am keeping for the investigation. They could be the murder weapons, for all we know,” Seth firmly replies, and Killian laughs.
“Sure, that’s why you want to keep them,” he replies through his laughs. “But remember twins always share.”
“You two are thieving assholes, you know that?” I mutter, but they both ignore me. Typical. I feel Seth continue to dig through my bag a few moments later, and I just wait for it.
“Little fucker," Seth shouts, pulling his hand out of my bag, and I loudly laugh, not being able to stop myself. Seth pushes Killian out of the way and grabs my joined hands, dragging me down the alleyway, further into the darkness and away from the busy street.
"What the fuck is in your bag that bites?" Seth demands, shaking his other hand, and I see blood. Good one, Kit.
"A goblin," I answer, loving the look of fear on Killian's face as he looks at me in shock from his brother’s side.
